She hit her head at her own stupidity.

Calling someone brought as a war slave ‘my person’. There was plenty of room for misunderstanding.

“Please forget what I said then… I didn’t mean it!”

“Whether you meant it or not doesn’t matter. You don’t need to make excuses.”

She tried to hastily smooth things over, but a cold wind blew across his stern face.

‘He must have seen a lot, his parents and kinsmen being captured…’

From his perspective, it was natural that humans were an untrustworthy species.

After his parents’ death, Raoul completely gave up any expectations of humans. And in the midst of that, he happened to meet the villain and the villain’s daughter, Diana…

‘It’s merciful that he didn’t bite my neck off while living together…’

Diana put down the cup she was holding to hide her anxiety. Damp sweat seeped between her neatly clasped fists.

“It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Since Father isn’t someone who would listen even if begged, I was trying to persuade him in my own way.”

“I said you don’t need to explain.”

“No. Let me do it! I feel so sorry towards you.”

“…What are you talking about?”

“The dwarf you fought, isn’t he the one who attacked me before?”

Raoul thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“It’s not something you need to apologize for by getting involved.”

“…Of course I feel very sorry, but I wanted to repay you for saving me even more. I wanted to save you too…”

“You also treated my wounds, so there’s no debt.”

Diana trembled inwardly.

‘What if he says he dislikes the duke’s castle and just gives up on the duel…?’

What if the story changes completely and the family falls faster? What if my neck is on the line before I can even help Raoul?

A chill ran down her spine.

“What can I do to make you trust me?”

Diana asked with desperate eyes.

“I don’t trust anyone…”

The conversation became more hopeless as it continued.

‘Am I unable to escape from being an extra villain after all? Why has the iron wall already started when I haven’t even done much?’

Diana tried to break through the situation by suggesting:

“…How about this? If you win and stay by my side, I really won’t interfere with you at all. If you say you want to practice swordsmanship, I’ll find a teacher for you, and if you say you want to live alone, I can give you a separate room far from mine. We won’t see each other at all, and you’ll live enjoying good things.”

“…As I said before, you don’t owe me anything. Why would you go that far?”

Diana’s brain was throbbing.

‘How can I justify this favor?’

No way came to mind.

She had expected to become brilliant overnight by becoming possessed, but it seemed that varied from person to person.

Her heart was full of desire to persuade, but words kept spilling out led by emotion rather than logic.

“…I just don’t want you to suffer… and I thought it would be good for everyone since I can help with that…”

“…But why.”

Diana’s mind went blank at his sharp gaze.

The reason she wanted to help Raoul was obvious.

Of course, it was because they were both destined to live miserably with unrequited love, so she wanted to save at least Raoul and wash away the sins of her past life.

What way was there to make him understand the future that would unfold without saying a word about it?

‘Hehe, if I don’t help you, you’ll end up not even being chosen by the female protagonist later and live alone for the rest of your life. Listen to me while I’m being nice.’

There was no way she could say this.

‘Right, let’s just keep it simple…’

Diana squeezed her eyes shut and said in a small voice:

“The truth is, I fell for you at first sight…”

“…What?”

Raoul stopped his fork and asked seriously. Diana quickly added an explanation.

“It’s true. But don’t worry. I have no intention of asking you to like me back.”

“…You’re lying.”

“I promise! I’ll really be like dust. I won’t even catch your eye, just think of me as a shuttle.”

“Shuttle?”

“Yeah. If you want to eat bread, tell me to get it, if you want to wear nice clothes, tell me to bring them. It’s like everything you want happens even though you can’t see the person!”

“…What do you gain from doing that?”

“…Isn’t that what unrequited love is like? Continuing to be good to someone even though there’s nothing to gain…”

It was a tearful statement, but one that Raoul would sympathize with later.

The fact that experts in unrequited love volunteer to be doormats.

Diana also had a brilliant track record in the past.

She would look for plate armor that seemed too much for a slave to wear, and somehow obtain and bring all the food he said he liked.

She wanted to do anything that could leave even a fingernail’s worth of her trace, like giving handkerchiefs as gifts under the pretext of wishing him good luck.

Of course, when the other person doesn’t want it, such devotion is called obsession.

“…I don’t understand.”

“…Hmm, is that so.”

Raoul finished his meal, looking at Diana with contempt.

“You don’t need to beg like that, I’m planning to win. I don’t want to be laughed at by nobles.”

“…Ah, really? That’s such a relief…!”

“So don’t misunderstand. I’m not winning for your sake.”

“Yes! Don’t worry. There’s absolutely no chance I’ll misunderstand!”

Whew. Diana let out a sigh of relief.

Raoul glared at the grinning Diana with suspicious eyes, but she didn’t mind at all.

‘Everything is going according to plan. Now Raoul just needs to win!’

And the day of the decisive battle approached quickly.

Raoul, standing with only a wooden sword and no proper protection, looked very precarious.

‘I told you to wear something!’

She had sent countless weapons and potions he could use over the past few days, but he didn’t accept any of them.

‘That stubborn bull… I couldn’t even force them on him since I already promised to live like dust.’

Unlike Diana, who was watching his back with anxious eyes, Raoul looked calm.

Ellen, who entered the training ground, frowned deeply.

‘The lord is going too far. How could he send me out to face such a little brat?’

The burly man was as rough a warrior as his rugged appearance.

To him, who had lived dealing with urgent situations in border areas as the captain of the duke’s troops, the young lycanthrope looked not only unimpressive but trivial.

“I’ll end this without pain.”

“All talk.”

Despite facing an adult with a huge difference in physique, the young boy showed no sign of fear.

Rather, his eyes were blazing like a wolf wanting to see blood right away.

“Ha.”

Ellen snorted as if dumbfounded, and as soon as the whistle blew, he brought his wooden sword down towards Raoul’s shoulder.

‘No, Raoul…! Dodge!’

Fortunately, before the sword could touch his body, Raoul slipped between Ellen’s legs.

He changed his form and lunged towards Ellen’s nape. Raoul bared his teeth sharply.

But Ellen was no easy opponent either.

He was taken aback by the unexpected combat sense and retreated for a moment, but immediately turned to block the charging Raoul.

Sharp fangs dug into his solid arm.

As the long, sharp teeth like icicles dug deeply into his forearm as if to tear it off, Ellen’s face contorted with pain.

“Ugh…, you uncivilized bastard!”

Ellen roughly shook his thick forearm.

Fresh blood that had just stained it was all over Raoul’s mouth as he landed on the ground.

‘Amazing, even though he’s a lycanthrope, to wound the captain’s right arm with that young body.’

The bloody battle between the two continued for a while.

It was at that moment when everyone’s attention was focused on the unexpected exchange of blows.

Ellen grabbed Raoul by the nape and slammed him to the ground.

Gasp.

Diana’s eyes widened at the sudden scene.

It happened so quickly that Raoul had no chance to dodge.

Ellen firmly held Raoul’s neck down and demanded surrender.

“Give up. I’ve killed hundreds of barbarians like you. Lycanthropes are no different!”

But Raoul’s spirit didn’t waver. Rather, he bared his teeth even more sharply and let out a low growl.

Thick veins began to appear on Ellen’s struggling forearm.

‘Ellen is having a hard time too.’

Just as Raoul was about to twist his neck to bite off Ellen’s thumb:

“That’s enough.”

The duke, who had been watching the duel with an expressionless face, stopped the match.

“Let him go.”

Ellen, who had been hesitating, reluctantly released his arm at the duke’s order.

Raoul still seemed not to have calmed down from the excitement of the fight and let out a low growl.

Returning to human form, Raoul glared at Ellen while fixing his tattered clothes.

A tenacious battle of nerves continued between the two.

The duke stared blankly at Ellen’s injured arm and asked.

“It seems you struggled quite a bit against a young boy. Is that right?”

Ellen didn’t like this situation, but he dared not lie in front of the Sword Master.

“I hate to admit it myself, but he’s certainly inhumanly strong because he’s a different species…”

The duke turned his gaze to Diana.

“Do you still want that guy?”

Her body momentarily froze at the sudden attention.

But now was the time to firmly nail it down.

‘Villain father, please turn your attention away from the sub-male lead!’

“Yes. I still want him.”

The duke rubbed his brow for a moment as if pondering, then spoke.

“That guy is as good as defeated.”

“…He hasn’t lost yet. And he won’t lose.”

Her words were muffled as if burrowing into the ground, perhaps due to nervousness. But she was sincere.

Diana firmly believed that Raoul, as the sub-male lead, would return to the original story by any means necessary.

She had felt anxious about the original story changing during the meal earlier, but the moment she saw his spirit as he entered the duel, Diana was certain that he would never lose to a minor extra character like Ellen.

‘If given more time, he would have definitely won by any means necessary.’

Callail seemed lost in thought for a while before throwing out two options.

“Let’s do this. Either put a branding spell on him to keep him safely by your side, or raise him as the duke’s castle’s loyal dog.”

Diana turned pale and refused.

“…That’s nonsense. Both are as good as non-options for me.”

“Choose the former. Then he’ll be completely yours.”

Branding was out of the question.

She had left deep scars on him through the branding curse in her past life.

If they formed a brand, Raoul would be forced to recognize Diana as his mate and follow her, but inside, resentment and love-hate for her would eat away at him.

Then what about the latter?

If she chose the latter, Raoul would stain his hands with innocent blood and be tormented by guilt.

To make him repeat that?

Though she disliked the latter just as much…

Her tightly bitten lips opened with difficulty.

“I’ll choose the latter, so please delegate to me all authority over that child’s lodging, meals, treatment, and lessons.”

“You’re making things difficult.”

“…Please.”

Diana lowered her head with her tail between her legs. Now was the time to back down a step.

The duke’s face became somewhat uncomfortable at the sight of his daughter begging.

“…Ellen. You take charge of the lessons.”

“My lord!”

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

Grr, Ellen grimaced but complied with his words.

“…As you command.”

“And…”

She met the duke’s eyes with her trapezius muscles tensed from so much nervousness.

“Do as you wish with the rest. You may keep him by your side when he seems sufficiently tamed.”

Her expression brightened.

It was an unexpected gain.